I am appalled. I have many of the same issues of mos of you, but heres my 2 cents anyway...

I don't really care about leves too much. Seems more annoying than worth it to me. I already have over 650,000 Gil. From doing nothing else but grinding and selling crystals on my retainer. I have more than enough cash to just buy whatever i want, instead of spending hours, upon hours, trying to gather and craft stuff myself.

I also have all of my classes setup with macros, both class switching macros, and combat macros.

I just hate how slow everything is. The UI is HORRID. Selling, Trading, Gathering, and Crafting all take an absurd amount of time. Same goes for how long it takes to setup and remove skills from my active bar. Its pretty much ridiculous.

Also the lack of Auction Houses, or any kind of organized trade is absolutely absurd. The market Wards are a sick joke...

What really killed it for me was last night. I spent about 4-5 hours in a 5 man group killing Aldgoat Nanny's in LL. and i was only getting 140-160 Skill Points per kill. I got maybe half a level in 4-5 hours of constant TOUGH grinding with a GROUP. I thought they made it so the more group members you have the more exp/skill ups you get. Nobody in the group was more then 2 Ranks from the next.

I was lucky enough to be playing for free, via buddy pass. I haven't paid a dime for anything yet. Either way so far it has been very discerning, and i just dunno if it's good enough to pay for. I was expecting a very fine, polished product from SE, and i feel like for a next gen MMO, it's just lacking too many 'easy' fixes.

There are lots of great things about the game, and it has the potential to be an MMO beast far greater than anything else, But they are just missing way too many core elements that make the game not fun.

LOL, this was supposed to be a response in the "Complaints Department" not sure how it ended up as it's own thread... Any who feel free to move/lock it. I don't give a **** anymore anyways. I only used this site for a game i prob won't be playing anymore...

Things are frustrating for everyone right now. The bright side for you, you have not paid for anything yet.

The people who did shell out 50$+ for the game are probably a little more angry about it. All we have is hope that these next few patches in Nov and Dec really fix the game up and make it better for everyone.

The only advice I have for you is take a break for a few months and try it then. FFXI was just as crappy when it first came out.

I know not many people played back then but you used to have to get hit to get tp.... what fun that must of been setting up skill chains.

Tweeks and fixes will come and this game will become polished, just a matter or when and will it be to late.

Agreed, for what it's worth. This game is missing so many standard UI features that it's kind of shocking. I'm expecting the game to be light on content when it first comes out but the UI presentation should be solid. They could have just taken what was in FFXI and made it better, but what we have here instead is something I'd expect as a placeholder in an early beta MMO. A horrible UI ruins the entire experience if you're constantly fighting with it.

I was in the Vanguard beta just after the friends and family stage and the UI in this game seriously reminds me of that. I LOL'd the first time logged in and saw the windows-like start menu and task bar.

A horrible UI ruins the entire experience if you're constantly fighting with it.

QFT. I'm a borderline fanboy (admitting it is the first step). I'll defend a lot of broken / unpolished / unfinished game mechanics because it's SE and it's a new release. I'll also defend some game mechanics just because I applaud anyone who is trying something new or different.

But the UI in XIV is absolutely horrendous and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The UI is is just fundamentally flawed and rotten to it's core. It doesn't need a hotfix, or a minor patch, or some slight tweaking; it needs to be set on fire, locked in a safe, and thrown off a bridge. It's a huge ***** up because the any MMO UI pervades every facet of the game. It's one of the most important basic requirements of the games functionality.

If I'm in a hurry to get to work in the morning, I'll run out of the house without shaving, without combing my hair, or with socks that don't match but at least I have the decency to make sure that I'm always wearing pants.

QFT. I'm a borderline fanboy (admitting it is the first step). I'll defend a lot of broken / unpolished / unfinished game mechanics because it's SE and it's a new release. I'll also defend some game mechanics just because I applaud anyone who is trying something new or different.

But the UI in XIV is absolutely horrendous and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The UI is is just fundamentally flawed and rotten to it's core. It doesn't need a hotfix, or a minor patch, or some slight tweaking; it needs to be set on fire, locked in a safe, and thrown off a bridge. It's a huge ***** up because the any MMO UI pervades every facet of the game. It's one of the most important basic requirements of the games functionality.

If I'm in a hurry to get to work in the morning, I'll run out of the house without shaving, without combing my hair, or with socks that don't match but at least I have the decency to make sure that I'm always wearing pants.

Things are frustrating for everyone right now. The bright side for you, you have not paid for anything yet.

The people who did shell out 50$+ for the game are probably a little more angry about it. All we have is hope that these next few patches in Nov and Dec really fix the game up and make it better for everyone.

I bought the CE and I have to say I'm not even a little bit angry anymore. I'm far far past the point of anger, I've moved on to apathy. I'd like for them to do something nice with XIV but I'm not holding out much hope.

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Q: How many SE employees does it take to change a lightbulb? A: None, it's working as intended.